Innovation & creation. Are they not both building blocks of a growth based, free enterprise economy?

For sure!

So, in that case, we can draw an arrow, without any leap of logic, to what one engine of rebuilding the entrepreneurial mindset of America is and what we need to encourage across all socio-economic classes, whether age, gender, race, ethnicity, or otherwise.

The below information was culled from a fantastic book I read about 15 mos. ago, by none other than leadership expert, John C. Maxwell, ‘Developing the Leader Within You’

For any given change proposal, the graphing of the responses looks like this:

2% – Innovators

10% – early Adopters

60% – middle adopters

20% – late adopters

8% – laggards

I’d say that this is very telling as to why the macro economies of the West have stalled; of course, there is far more to this analysis than just this, however, it’s definitely a piece of the analysis that may not be as well studied as others. Regardless of one’s intent, often, a review will be colored by the person writing it- so if you’re reading an economic study, you may not find out that the person is resistant to change in his/her profession, or generally, so could that’s why, perhaps paired with a lack of reading, we’re not hearing more about this.

When roughly 12% of the population embraces change openly and without time, emotional, or rational resistance acting as ‘sand in the gears’, and 28% on the other side of the teeter totter, could that be why so many look not to entrepreneurs, but to big institutions of yore ( think: big business/corporations, big education, big unions, big government ) or “experts” (many of whom aren’t really experts, lacking their 10,000 hours invested ) to deal with the issues causing economic dis-location, stagnation, and missed growth opportunities?

Let’s change this graphing by addressing the deep roots: Read more. Listen more (at the expense only of your own thinking that you know the answer(s)). Invest in yourself ahead of all else by cutting needless expenses that have no return on dollars spent. Find mentor(s)) to follow. Join a community based leadership growth group in your area. And, by all means, focus on the great that’s out there – innovate your thinking, and adopt the mindset of an eagle. We have enough chickens and chicken littles 😉